St. Louis Is 'Working Very Hard' to Re-Sign Amendola and More NFC West News

With just 12 days to go until the beginning of free agency, there has been little to no word on contract talks between Danny Amendola and the St. Louis Rams. It's believed, much like Steven Jackson, that the Rams want Amendola back, but only at the right price. This is obvious because of the organization's current salary cap situation and it's unwillingness to use the franchise tag on the often injured receiver.

Yet Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch does his best at shining a bit of light on the situation during his weekly chat. When a viewer of the chat forum asked Thomas about Tavon Austin and the potential of him coming to St. Louis in the draft, here's what he had to say:

Don't know about that. For one, the Rams are working very hard on re-signing Amendola. For another, I'm wondering if Austin was so good at Indy that a team ahead of the Rams might even take him.

He makes a good point about the West Virginia wideout having such a strong performance at the combine that he may not even be there when the Rams first pick at No. 16 overall. But as I alluded to in the title of the story, the real news here is the fact that Les Snead and Jeff Fisher are "working very hard" to get a deal done with the fourth-year wide receiver out of Texas Tech.

Despite the hard work the front office is putting in, I still find it hard to believe Amendola would re-sign before March 12. When it's this close to free agency, most players still want to hit the open market to find out what their perceived value is. That's not to say No. 16 won't end up with the Rams when it's all said and done, it just means he wants to see who all is interested.

One can't blame him for that, considering most players make most of their money on their second NFL contract. From now until the start of free agency, things become awfully interesting for the Rams front office.